Every year or so, (for quite some time) I get an update or two that
says it installed and "wants to" again, up to 10 or 15 times...
I let background update try, the full Windows Update Site try, and
also D/L them manually and try them that way... (Nothing helps...)

Since at least one of them was a security update, (and help for them is free),
so I called MS at the security update product support services phone number.
They were very "helpful" and interested. We spent a long time investigating,
(possibly over a continuous hour),
but never resolved the problem.  I told them the following during my exit
from the "exercise"...

What usually happens with me is (YMMV, and this is not recommended
for all cases), I wait until some other patch comes along that "shakes things up"
enough that it clears what-ever the OS is choking on...
When info is available and it is possible, I checked into the dependencies and
file versions and "sort of" decided that it was more OS a problem with the
"DETECTION" of the patches rather than the "alleged fact" that they were not installed...

This is only helpful from an anecdotal viewpoint...
(This also happens on more than this one computer... It has not happened since they
switched to ver5 of the Windows update site...)

                                                Rick Glazier

From: "David Gillett"
> 1.  "Upate Installation History" can sometimes show updates that have been
> downloaded, but have not installed successfully.  In particular, if you
> download an update whose installation requires a reboot to complete, the
> Installation history will often show it installed even if that step has not
> been done.
>
> 2.  I had a Windows Server recently that would download a certain update
> every night, log an error during installation, and reboot itself without the
> update successfully installing.  I had to do a manual Windows Update to
> successfully install the update -- and since I did, no more problem.

> On 26 Mar 2005 at 14:13, Jim Harris wrote:
> > "Windows Updates" keeps telling me, almost daily, that "Critical Updates"
> > are available..  Always the same updates:
> >clipped
> > I have installed them - twice - "successfully".  And when I view "Update
> > installation history", it shows them having been updated - successfully.

      "Hold No Punches.." Rode brings you great shareware/freeware
        programs with his honest opinions in this weekly column.
                       http://freepctech.com/rode